cannot assign ip address

[PardeGT]

I am trying to set up my road runner account on my new win2k machine using a netgear fa311 nic. So far no luck.

I've tried the different drivers available for the nic. The ip and dns are set to assign automatically. All lights are on so the connection seems fine. I checked the netgear site and didn't find any clues there.

I am wondering about my irq assignments - seems to be a lot of IRQ11 sharing. When I first installed the nic it took irq 7 but upon reboot it now goes to irq11. It doesn't seem to want to let me change any irq as the "use automatic settings" and "change settings" are both grey and cannot be accessed.

Here is my irq list:

(ISA) 0 SYSTEM TIMER
(ISA) 1 STANDARD 101/102 KEYBOARD
(ISA) 3 COM2
(ISA) 4 COM1
(ISA) 6 STANDARD FLOPPY CONTROLLER
(ISA) 8 SYSTEM CMOS
(ISA) 9 MICROSOFT ACP1 COMPLIANT SYSTEM
(ISA) 12 PS/2 MOUSE
(ISA) 13 NUMERIC DATA PROCESSOR
(ISA) 14 PRIMARY IDE CHANNEL
(ISA) 15 SECONDARY IDE CHANNEL
(PCI) 11 CREATIVE AUDIO PCI (WDM)
(PCI) 11 HTP370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID CONTROLLER
(PCI) 11 INTEL 82371AB/EB PCI TO USB UNIVERSAL HOST CONTROLLER
(PCI) 11 NETGEAR FA311 PCI ADAPTER
(PCI) 11 NVIDIA GEFORCE2 TI 500

The manual for the abit board says that pci slot 5 and the htp370 controller use the same bus. Also, Pci slot 3 shares irq with the htp370 controller. Pci slot 2 and 5 share irqs as well.

So I have the sound card in pci 2 and the nic in pci 4 and still have irq 11 shared for the items above.

Thanks for the help.

[PardeGT]

I should add that I tried disabling the com ports to try and free up irqs and also set irq 11 to legacy to try and scatter the bunch but yet all those assigned to irq 11 stayed exactly as listed above.

I read that win 2k and xp do share irqs more so maybe this is ok? Rather it is something with the netgear nic setup?

edit:

I tried disabling the acpi in the bios. I also changed computer in device manager from acpi to standard pc. It did split up my irq's and I reset irq 11 to pci/isa pnp so it has one more to use. I don't like the machine being in this at form though.

Bad news is the nic still doesn't work- the dchp won't renew.

[sedu]

I doubt if this has anything to do with IRQ assignments. Win2K handles these quite well. What information do you get when you run Ipconfig? Sometimes 2K will assign you a default IP which will conflict with your actual settings. You can try to manually enter your DNS server and Ip address and see what happens.

[morriswindgate]

(PCI) 11 CREATIVE AUDIO PCI (WDM)
(PCI) 11 NVIDIA GEFORCE2 TI 500
(PCI) 11 NETGEAR FA311 PCI ADAPTER

Video and Creative SB sharing IRQ, alongwith the Netgear Card. Not good.
Also disable the serial ports if not being used

[PardeGT]

I agree I don't like them sharing IRQ's but I don't think that it is the problem or at least all of it because after I changed from acpi to standard pc the netgear went to irq 11 by itself and still it would not work. Changing to acpi was the only way I could get the irq's to split up but don't like the machine acting like an at. So I may put it back to acpi IF everything will work ok.

I tried IPCONFIG and there is an ip address there and a dns but they are the ones assigned by windows. How do I know what ip and dns to put in - do I need to contact my road runner provider?

I also tried IPCONFIG/RENEW but it said it had already been renewed.

I thought this win2k install was going to be a bit easier that this. Wishful thinking I guess.

[PardeGT]

I'm getting no where with this d**m thing! Ok, that's better, had to releave some fustration.

Anyway, I tried asking road runner support for help but their tech support couldn't help either and gave up after the following attempts.

Uninstalled and reinstalled the tcp/ip which I had already done before.

Then did ipconfig and the ip address was now reset to 0.0.0.0

Then onto ipconfig/release which yielded - "IP address for adapter Local Area Connection already released."

Also, ipconfig/renew - "the following error occurred when renewing adapter Local Area Connection: DHCP server unreachable.


Any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated as I need to get this machine finished as the one I am using now is due off to its new home.

Thanks.

[Hpro]

You are on DIAL UP so what for need a DHCP ? Are you hooked up to a HUB? if yes then set the hub for 192.168.0.1 this will (hope that's right) otherwise someone correct me - as I usually do not use those IP's - to slow.. use 100.100.100.10 ,much faster -
what's the exact name - of your provider - do they have a website..?

The machine which you use to connect to write your post will provide you with the IP of your provider if you use Dial up and the same provider..

Then onto ipconfig/release which yielded - "IP address for adapter Local Area Connection already released."

So here is what the problem is - Local Area Connection is you network at home - and not the provider...

[Paul Victorey]

It sounds like the NIC sends a DHCP request, which is not being answered.

I would check the DHCP server itself. Is it properly configured? Is the network cabling connected properly?

Best test is to take another machine, using the exact same network cable, and trying to get an IP address with that one.

IRQ sharing is practically never a problem. All of my PCI cards + my video share one IRQ, and all work just fine.

It truly just sounds like a connectivity problem, or a configuration problem with the DHCP server. How is your network configured? Does the DHCP server assign real addresses (true internet IPs) or is your network using LAN addresses (like 192.168.x.x) plus a router? If you are using the router, you can probably disable DHCP entirely, and go to all static IPs. If, like me, the DSL company assigns you an IP, I'd make sure the hardware was all in working order, and that other computers connected worked.

Test everything:

* Make sure you're using a good port on the hub (remember you can't use both the uplink and the port next to the uplink, because those are truly only one port).

* Make sure you're using a good cable (especially if you crimp your own, make sure you're doing it right -- should be WhO, O, WhG, Bl, WhBl, G, WhBr, Br). Make sure you use straight-through when you need straight-through, crossover when you need crossover.

* Make sure the router/DSL modem is actually working, and other PCs can get IPs.

[PardeGT]

I run a cable modem/netgear fa311 nic using the local cable company Time Warner and they use the RoadRunner system.

I have factory cat5 cables that works on my other win98 machine and that connection works fine. I do use an SMC 4 port switch/router but figured it would be easier to set up the connection directly to the modem first and then switch it over to the router/switch.

My other computer sees 192.169.123.126 as the ip address, but that is the one I set to from the router instructions. I tried manually setting the ip on the new machine to this and connect (after attaching router)but it didn't. Is there something else I should have tried?

How do you disable the DHCP? I saw it and thought of this but didn't see a way to disable it in win2k.

You'll have to forgive me as I'm not an expert and haven't done this enough yet. Exactly what is the DHCP server? Also, your comment Chris makes me curious:

as I usually do not use those IP's - to slow.. use 100.100.100.10 ,much faster

I guess I really didn't know one could assign their own ip's and that some are faster than others.

Thanks for helping, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this.

[Paul Victorey]

First, shouldn't that be 192.168.123.126, not 192.169.123.126? I think that's probably a typo on your part.

DHCP is, essentially, a service that gives you an IP automatically.

Describe the network -- you have several computers, attached to a switch or router, which is attached to the modem? BTW, is this a switch, or a router? They're quite different, but in either case, cable the new machine exactly like your working one; attaching directly may not work without a crossover, not a straight-through, cable.

Look at your working computer's network configuration -- did you manually assign this an IP, or is it set to obtain it automatically?

[Paul Victorey]

Originally posted by Hpro 100.100.100.10 ,much faster -

First, I don't believe that there's any speed difference related to IP; the difference between the various reserved blocks is the default subnet masks.

Second, I don't think 100.100.100.10 falls in a block of reserved addresses; when making local networks, you MUST use a reserved block, or you can get into much trouble.

In any event, pardegt, go into your working Win98 machine, and tell us how the following things are set. They all are under the control panel - open networking, look for TCP/IP (the one attached to the NIC if there is more than one copy of TCP/IP), hit properties:

IP address - is this set to auto or manual? If manual, what is the address?
Default gateway -- is this set?

Just knowing those should tell us a lot.

[PardeGT]

Sorry, yes, typo.

It is a SMC 4 port switch and router in one (model SMC7004BR). I have the cable modem running to the router and then into my old win98 desktop and the router/switch also feeds my laptop when I have it hooked up. When I get it working the win2k machine will just replace the win98 machine in the same configuration.

When I have tried to do most of this I have unplugged the modem to let it erase its memory and hook it straight to the win2k machine but I did try it once with the router just to see if I could do that. I followed the instructions that came with the router below.

The router instructions have you check win2k that ip and dns are set to automatic. Then it has you run ipconfig/release which says you are supposed to get "IP addresss successfully released for adapter "Local Area Connection 1". Then it has you run ipconfig/renew and you should get the 192.168.123.126 #. Then it has you clear "automatically detect settings" under LAN Settins in Internet Options. Finally, you open your web browser and enter in this SMC ip (192.168.123.254). An internet page appears and you choose setup. A box appears saying the LAN IP Address is 192.168.123.254 and then you change the WAN setting to dynamip ip. As I said above when I checked the IP on the win98 machine itself (ipconfig)it was 192.168.123.126.

Above I posted what I do get when running ipconfig/release and ipconfig/renew for the win2k machine and if you run ipconfig presently it shows 0.0.0.0 for the ip.

Thanks, keep it coming!

[PardeGT]

Win98 machine:

IP set to automatic, no gateways, DNS set to disable, WINS resolution set to disable.

[Paul Victorey]

Try plugging the machine in exactly like the Win98 machine is, as plugging straight to the modem might be the wrong thing to do; sometimes, you need to have a crossover cable to directly connect to a modem. Everything will work just fine with the cables running through the switch, and you KNOW that configuration works. Again, plug into the switch but NOT in the uplink or the port next to the uplink.

In Win2000, open Networking and Dialup connections, right click on Local Area Connection, and then go to TCP/IP properties. You should be set to automatically get an IP address.

Try hooking the machines up like this and restarting. If you run the ipconfig /renew with the cabling hooked up exactly like your win98 machine, will it work?

[PardeGT]

I plugged the win2k machine into the same port as win98 on the router and booted up. I checked the ip setting which was on automatic. All lights are on as supposed to be on both the router and nic card.

I ran ipconfig/renew and got the same as before: "the following error occured when renewing adapter Local Area Connection: DHCP server unreachable" and nothing comes up if I try to access the internet.

A couple notes: from the time I clicked on Start and Network and Dial-up Connections it took 50 seconds (I timed it) for the actual Network and Dial-up box to appear. When I ran ipconfig it took a minute and a half to give me the error message. Also, if I unplug the cat5 win2k shows it is disconnected.

I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a windows problem.

Before purchasing the smc I was running the win98 machine straight from the cable modem. I got the router/switch so I could have internet on the laptop without the cable company charging me for the use of a second ip.

[PardeGT]

I'll be away for a few hours now but I will be back to work on it later tonight.

A few more notes: I've tried a few different drivers for the netgear nic. When I open Network and Dial-up Connections and Local Area Connection and then click on the properties of the tcp/ip it will show the connected speed if I have the cat5 cable hooked up to the modem or router. The thing is that depending on driver it shows the speed as 100Mbps or 10Mbps.

Also, now that I've uninstalled and reinstalled the nic in device manager a few times it now shows up as the Netgear Fa311 fast ethernet pci adapter #2 - there is just this one listing under network adapters in device manager though.

I don't know if any of this means anything or not but I figure the more I can pass along the better.

[Hpro]

Originally posted by Paul Victorey First, I don't believe that there's any speed difference related to IP; the difference between the various reserved blocks is the default subnet masks. Second, I don't think 100.100.100.10 falls in a block of reserved addresses; when making local networks, you MUST use a reserved block, or you can get into much trouble. In any event, pardegt, go into your working Win98 machine, and tell us how the following things are set. They all are under the control panel - open networking, look for TCP/IP (the one attached to the NIC if there is more than one copy of TCP/IP), hit properties: IP address - is this set to auto or manual? If manual, what is the address? Default gateway -- is this set? Just knowing those should tell us a lot.

Paul , I had so get some 50 machines over a lan to work and there was no way of using 192.168.*.* - the computer would eat up each other - connecting speed was slow - some games applications wouldn't run - the same thing has happen as I tried to configure Win2k on the home network here with Win98 and Winxp - used 100.100.100.10 then .20 and .30 and all the problems were solved - no more issues on startup that the IP is in use etc.. so and as this is a internal NETWORK and you DO NOT GO ONLINE with this IP I don't see any problems with it - so could you explain me what do you mean with getting in to much trouble?
Thanks

[Paul Victorey]

Well, if it's purely a LAN, with no internet connection, anywhere, you can assign IPs as you like.

IP address shouldn't, in any way, affect speed (unless you have IP-level devices, like routers, that are improperly configured). A LAN using switches and hubs operates below the IP level, so transmission speed is independent of the actual IP addresses used. The hardware doesn't even look at the IP address in a network composed of switches and hubs; hubs are level 1 devices, which forward all packets to all ports, and switches are level 2, which operate only on the MAC addresses, which you can never change.

I don't doubt that you caused a speed increase by changing, but it's more likely that other factors (perhaps new machines automatically assuming "master browser" role) caused the slowdowns. In this case, the delay is the network trying to figure out "who is in charge", and figuring out what IP address corresponds to the desired machine. Once the network stabilizes, it should be fast, regardless of IP.

I have ~95-100 machines operating on the 192.168.1.x range of addresses, with no speed issues.

The reason you shouldn't normally pick IPs at random is that those IPs could be assigned to an internet server, so when you try to connect to it, it thinks you're making a local connection and it won't work right. 10.x.x.x and 192.168.x.x are reserved for LANs (they are not valid internet IP addresses) so these are used for devices which are behind a NAT router; this way, there is never confusion which addresses are LAN addresses and which are internet addresses. If any of the machines access the internet, they will have problems if those IPs are in use on the internet.

And if you get errors that an IP is already in use, the problem is misconfiguration -- this just means that multiple PCs (or devices like routers, print servers, etc) were assigned the same IP, which is a no-no. In this case, the solution is to make every PC guaranteed to have a unique address, whether they obtain it through DHCP or static IP.

[Hpro]

Yes - first I used the 192.186.*.* but this wouldn't work neverthless how it was configured - all the thing is running on two hubs 50 channels in all - and on boot up there was this problem - If I boot now the system it takes something from 1 - 3 seconds for each computer to reconize the other computers and not 3 - 5 MINUTES as it does when it's configured to AUTO or the 192.168 is used ...This doesn't mean that I don't belive you but it never worked out that way - more when someone played counter strike and then someone else was opening red alert 2 then either machine would hang and or redalert wasn't able to see it's other players over the lan.. as I wrote this system is behind the hub and teh Interet line is configured to another IP address - running out of this systems mail computer..- it's not configured as a server but just the one which holds all the important data not viewable for the users on the LAN..
Thank you anyway..

[PardeGT]

Sounds like to me there's more than one way to skin a cat and both work in the situations you had.

Do you guys have any more suggestions for me after the recent tries? I really want to get this thing moving along and it seems to beyond my realm of knowledge and ideas.

Thanks so much.

[Hpro]

yes - is there any chance that you have faulty hardware in the chain there.. do you have the possibility to test those devices individual on the second system ?
Can you look at system info if there are any forced hardware in your computer.. this may help..

[PardeGT]

Can you look at system info if there are any forced hardware in your computer.. this may help..

This will sound dumb but what is this and how can I tell if it is?

[Hpro]

START > RUN type MSINFO32 click ok - takes a few seconds to load...
absolutely not dumb question better to ask as walking in the dark...
Or you can DL this utility - it's for free - and it does it's job..

http://www.belarc.com/Programs/advisor.exe install it and it will tell you everything have to give my thanks to PMICH on that one..he just got me the link on IRC net - why don't you join?

mIRC = irc.asylum-net.org #pc-mech
We are online there ..right now..

[Paul Victorey]

Originally posted by Hpro Yes - first I used the 192.186.*.* but this wouldn't work neverthless how it was configured - all the thing is running on two hubs 50 channels in all - and on boot up there was this problem - If I boot now the system it takes something from 1 - 3 seconds for each computer to reconize the other computers and not 3 - 5 MINUTES as it does when it's configured to AUTO or the 192.168 is used ...This doesn't mean that I don't belive you but it never worked out that way - more when someone played counter strike and then someone else was opening red alert 2 then either machine would hang and or redalert wasn't able to see it's other players over the lan.. as I wrote this system is behind the hub and teh Interet line is configured to another IP address - running out of this systems mail computer..- it's not configured as a server but just the one which holds all the important data not viewable for the users on the LAN.. Thank you anyway..

50 PCs on two HUBS? Collisions alone (not to mention half duplex) will kill your speed. I'd never put more than, maybe, 15 PCs per hub, with all the hubs feeding into a central switch. Ideally, use a fully switched network (no hubs at all).

pardegt -- you plan only to use this PC by itself on the network? Try setting it up with a STATIC IP, one that is similar to the ones you'd get from DHCP. 192.168.123.120 would be a good choice. Set up a default gateway of 192.168.123.254, which seems to be your router's internal IP address.

Now, try accessing the internet. Try connecting both by sitename, and by IP address; for example, for PCMech, try connecting to www.pcmech.com AND 209.68.45.231

[PardeGT]

After banging my head against a wall I finally got the netgear card installed on the win98 machine. The drivers just didn't want to go there. I have the driver disk that came with the card and one newer and one older driver that I downloaded that are supposed to work in both 98 and 2k. One time it would search for one file and then it would search for another going back and forth. I finally realized the problem. Some of the system files are labeled fa311n3d and some are named fa31xn3d - same goes for the inf and dos files depending on what driver version being used. And it seemed to call for out both no matter which driver being installed. I'd provide one and it would want the other. I finally copied them and gave the copied one the other name that was similar. Once I got that straightened out I had the card installed. Maybe my fault as I probably should have noticed that.

I changed the network parameters to the same as the other network card. Time to reboot. Uh-oh, computer hangs on boot. Try in safemode - still hangs. Sure wish I knew more about dos about then. After several reboots and hangs it fully rebooted. It was zonealarm that was hanging the system. I know that having my router provides security but I never had a problem with za when I installed my router and gave it clearance. I figured a little extra security never hurt - until now I guess. I disabled za in startup to prevent this again. With the netgear set up the same as the other card I try and connect - nothing. So, I tried the setting you suggested Paul. Still no go.

I'm now thinking this card is a dud. I'm not real sure on how za works but maybe it checks the network on bootup and it ran into problems when checking the netgear card.

I am going to get a new card and see what happens. Do you agree?


If cursing, swearing and yelling obsenities acually fixed things I have one heck of a system now. I think most were just rolling through my head and not out of my mouth.

[Paul Victorey]

Well, zonealarm does check the network info, so that could be the source of that problem. Once the network is fully functional, though, I'd assume that that problem will vanish.

Why are you now changing the NIC on the Win98 machine? Is this to verify the NIC worked?

There is one thing you can try -- get the Win98 machine, and the 2K machine, and hook them up to the switch. Remove the DSL modem entirely, it's only complicating things right now. Set both machines to static IPs; use something like:

192.168.123.10 and 192.168.123.11

Set both with different PC names, set both to workgroup = WORKGROUP.

Make sure ZoneAlarm is -NOT- active on either computer (it will stop a PC from responding to a TCP/IP ping).

From each machine, try to ping the other. Open a command prompt, and type:

ping 192.168.123.11
-or-
ping 192.168.123.10

where the IP is the IP of the other machine. You can also see if it can ping itself, which will tell you if the NIC is working or not.

If both machines can ping each other (and themselves) and get a response, then the NICs and network is working at least that much.

[PardeGT]

I tried Hpro's suggestion and pulled the problematic netgear nic that I was trying to setup in the win2k machine and put it into the win98 machine that had the good known working linksys nic. I set up the netgear with the same parameters as the linksys tcp/ip and tried to see if it would work. I also tried assigning it the ip you suggested 192.168.123.120. Both were without success.

Also, I tried pinging the netgear card when it was in the win2k machine without success.

I really appreciate all your help and suggestions.

[Paul Victorey]

OK, here's a final thought -- get the 98 machine up and running. Go to microsoft's site, find the list of netowrk cards natively supported by Windows 2000 (those you can use Win2K default drivers for). Buy and install one of those. And don't install the manufacturer's drivers.

Honestly, most of the time, MS's default drivers usually work pretty well, so long as it correctly IDs your hardware.

[archie]

Before purchasing the smc I was running the win98 machine straight from the cable modem.

Could the IP address assigned by Time Warner not have been released from the Win98 machine? If that's the case, release it and then the router will be able to pick it up.

[UTR Enterprises]

Hey Pardegt,

HPRO asked me to take a look at this thread and see if there was anything I could offer. It took me a while to get a chance ‘cause of a business trip. I have read through everything, however may not have a full grasp on the situation…so I will somewhat start from scratch and you can correct me/catch me up as necessary.

As I understand it, you are trying to connect a win2k machine to a cable modem through a hub. The goal is to have one connection to the cable service provider through the cable modem, one connection from the cable modem to the hub, and two machines on the hub which need to see the inet. Lets start with that and you can correct me if I have the setup wrong.

Terms used in this horribly long answer ….

DHCP … Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. See below.

ISP…Internet Service Provider. In the case of a cable modem this is your cable company.

Inet ...used interchangeably with internet.

Local side or local net … meaning the network on which your computers and hub reside. Local net and Internet are LOGICAL terms. The IP address determines the networks. (I.E. 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 are on the same network when a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 is used. 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.2.1 are NOT on the same network when the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 is used and 192.168.1.1 and 10.10.10.1 are NOT on the same network when the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 is used.)

Internet side or internet or inet side … the internet. Everything PAST the cable modem/internet router including the port ON the cable modem/internet router, the cable modem, the cable from the wall and the internet.

Cable modem…the cable modem your ISP is using to connect you to the internet. The cable goes in one side and a crossover cable comes out to go to the machine.

Cable modem/internet router. This is the router between your cable modem and your computer or hub. It works as a firewall and masks the IP which is assigned to your computer from the internet. See below.

Hub … the powered hub which is used to pass packets from one device to another. It has ONE uplink port which is a crossover, and one to n (n being any number) of communications ports. These are “straight” Ethernet ports.

Machine … your computers (win98 and win2k.)

Crossover … an Ethernet cable which has had the comm. Out and comm. In wires crossed over to be connected directly from one NIC card to another NIC card. Examination of the plugs for a crossover cable will show the wire pattern to be DIFFERENT from one end of the cable to the other. (I.E. white-orange, orange, white-blue, blue, white-green, green, white-brown, brown to white-orange, orange, white-blue, GREEN, white-green, BLUE, white-brown, brown.)

Straight through cable … an Ethernet cable in which all the wires are the same coming out as they are going in. The hub handles the impulses for in and out communication. In a straight through cable, examination of the wires in the plug will be identical (I.E. white-orange, orange, white-blue, blue, white-green, green, white-brown, brown to white-orange, orange, white-blue, blue, white-green, green, white-brown, brown.)




First off, you are right. There is ABSOLUTELY no speed issue relating to the IP address. The addresses are simply address and no ZERO impact on the speed of the network. The addresses of 10.0.0.0 - 0.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 and 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 are what are known as “internal only” IP addresses. What this means, in a nutshell, is these address will not route on the inet and cannot be assigned by InterNIC for web addressing. The purpose behind this is to have a range of IP addresses which can be safely used on an internal network without fear of packets getting inadvertently passed to the inet. It also makes sure that NO MATTER HOW LIMITED THE poll of IP addressing for the inet gets, people will always be able to have room for their internal networks as everyone under the sun could use those ranges safely on their internal networks without interfering with the people across the street using the same IP addresses (as long as the two networks do not connect physically without the internet.)

The issues with those addresses and your network are that the cable modem/internet router you are using (from how it sounds) is also a firewall. This is extremely common and almost all cable modem/internet routers are. How this works is as follows …

Your ISP/cable company is intending to provide you one, and only one, IP address for access to the inet. You actually signed an agreement which states you will not use more that one machine on the cable modem without paying an additional fee. This IP can be static, or assigned by DHCP (which I will explain in a minute.) Doesn’t matter as they can monitor what machine name is using the IP and have set your “assigned” machine name (something like CGHDKEGDW-A.nola.la.home.net) to the IP you are assigned, even if it is assigned by DHCP.

How the internet/cable modem/firewall is designed to work is it is seen by the network/internet as a computer. A really dumb one which can do nothing of value. They are usually designed to be a DHCP server AND a DHCP client. That will make sense in a minute. As a DHCP client it can request the IP from your ISP. When it receives the IP it, and only it, talks directly to the Internet.

As a DHCP SERVER, it can send out assigned IP addresses to any machine which requests them which is on the LOCAL (not the internet) side of the router. This means your machines can ask the ROUTER (not the cable modem or the ISP) for an IP address. You can also assign the computers a static IP as long as the internet/cable modem router knows what they are. More on that later.

The bottom line is, ALL internet packets go to the cable modem/router from the cable modem. It then takes all the packet information, COMPLETELY re-writes it for the internal network, and send it off to the internal network. The packets are received by the internal network, whatever needs to be done with the information is done with it, the computers on the internal network then create their own packet for the inet (like an ICMP packet) which they address to the inet. The cable modem/internet router then grabs these packets, re-writes the SOURCE IP information (where the packet thinks it came from) to the IP address for the internet as assigned by the ISP, and sends it on its way. This creates a firewall which does not allow anyone to know of the existence of your computers on the LOCAL network side of the cable modem/internet router.

Now, probably the easiest way to set your machine up is as follows. Connect the cable modem to the cable modem/internet router. This usually requires a CROSSOVER cable from the cable modem to the cable modem/internet router since, as far as network topology is considered, these are each a COMPUTER (not a networking device.)

Next a CROSSOVER cable needs to go from the cable modem/internet router to the hub. There is usually ONE port on the hub called an UPLINK port. This is a crossover port intended to receive data from another hub or router. ALL THE REST OF THE PORTS on the hub as straight throughs.

OK. Next, a STRAIGHT THROUGH cable goes from any of the communications ports on the hub to the network card on the computer. Two cables, one from one hub port to one computer NIC. The other from a different hub port to a different computer NIC.

The cable modem/internet router will use a static IP assigned from the ISP OR use DHCP to request an IP from the ISP. This is the IP the cable modem/internet router will use to talk to the internet…and that’s it. This IP goes no farther and has no further implications.

Next, you must tell the cable modem/internet router what range of IP addresses to use on the LOCAL side of the network (the side your hub and computers are attached to. The cable modem/internet router can assign these to your computers by DHCP, but for simplicity, lets just make everything static. So you say to the cable modem/internet router, “You use all the IP addresses from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254 as IP addresses to talk to the LOCAL side of the network.” So you set the cable modem/internet router to use IP 192.168.1.1 (for example.) Then you set the first computer to use IP 192.168.1.2 and the second computer to use IP 192.168.1.3. The hub is just a hub. It neither needs an IP or any IP information, assuming it is a HUB and NOT A ROUTER. If it cost less than $50 it is a hub.

This is how the packets will travel. Lets say your ISP tells the cable modem/internet router to use IP 123.45.67.111. The internet packets from the ISP will go to the modem first, using addressing we don’t care about. It is considered an internet router portal…we don’t care…it just “appears” on the cable modem J Then, any packets on the internet which are for your machine, meaning your IP address of 123.45.67.111 which the internet thinks is your computer…but is really the cable modem/internet router DISGUISED as your machine…get routed to your cable modem/internet router. The cable modem/internet router then reads the packet, determines it is for the win2k machine (using things we don’t need to discuss for clarity’s sake) and re-writes the packet so all the information is the same, but it is addresses to 192.168.1.2, and sends it to the LOCAL side of the network. Your win2k machine sees the packet, picks it up and life is good.

However, your win2k machine needs to respond to the packet. So it creates a packet addresses to the INTERNET, and sends it off…telling the packet that it came from itself using IP 192.168.1.2. The router sees the packet assigned for the internet, and intercepts it. It sees the IP address of 192.168.1.2 (which defines where the packet came from) so it strips that IP off the packet and re-writes the packet to think it came from 123.45.67.111 and sends it off to the INTERNET side of the cable modem/internet router. The packet whizzes to the internet place it needs to go and on and on and on ad Nauseum.

Now, that you have an understanding of what needs to happen, we can start looking at the details. Simply put, your cable modem is a cable modem…attach it to the cable and don’t try to mess with its configuration, even if you could. Use a crossover cable from the cable modem to the internet side of the cable modem/internet router. On the INTERNET side of the cable modem/internet router set the cable modem/internet router to use the static IP assigned by the ISP or to use DHCP to GET an IP from the ISP (I.E. the 123.45.67.111 in our made up example.) That’s it there…done.

On the LOCAL side of the cable modem/internet router, tell it to use the range of IP addresses of 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. REMEMBER!!! You cannot use 192.168.1.0 or 192.168.1.255 as those are reserved for other things. You will tell the cable modem/internet router that ITS IP ADDRESS, FOR THE PORT WHICH IS ON THE LOCAL SIDE OF THE ROUTER is 192.168.1.1 – its subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and its default gateway is the default gateway assigned by the ISP (you probably will not need to assign that.) Remember, a router has TWO IP addresses. The one for the port on ONE side of the router (I.E. the internet side) and one for the port on the OTHER side of the router (I.E. the LOCAL network side.)

Next, connect a CROSSOVER cable from the LOCAL side of the cable modem/internet router to the UPLINK port on the hub. There is only ONE uplink port. There is no configuration to do on the hub.

Then you will connect a STRAIGHT THROUGH cable to a port on the hub, and the other end to the NIC on the win2k machine. Right click my network places on the win2k desktop, choose properties, right click the NIC card icon connection, choose properties, in the screen which comes up, double click TCP/IP and set the IP address to 192.168.1.2 – the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway to the cable modem/internet router’s IP address of 192.168.1.1.

That should be it. The actual details for setting the IP addresses on the cable modem/internet router will be included with the router, but usually there is a default address with its own IP which you can telnet into to set things. OR they also come with a 9 pin serial connection which you connect to the serial port on your computer and then to the serial port on the router, and use a HyperTerminal connection to talk to the router to set up the IP information.

OK. That should get you going. Let me know what works, does not work, what I have wrong, ETC. and we can go from there.

DHCP

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is very simple. The DHCP server has a range of IP addresses it can use. I.E. 10.10.0.1 through 20.20.255.254. When a machine set to use DHCP comes online, the first thing it does is send out a packet requesting an IP address to IP 255.255.255.255 (which is the address for BROADCAST.) ALL machines will look at this packet and see what it wants. If the packet has data of value to them, it will pick it up and pass it through the TCP/IP stack. If it does not, it discards it.

When the DHCP server see the packet is requesting an IP address, it finds an unused IP address in its allocated range, I.E. 10.19.23.45, marks it as used, sets a lifespan time and sends out a packet addressed to whatever machine sent the broadcast (remember ALL packets have the SENDING machines IP address included with them.)

The broadcasting machine gets the packets, reads what IP address it is to use, sets itself to that IP address, and remembers how long the “lease” is. When the lease is 50% expired it sends out a directed packet to the DHCP server and requests a renewal/new IP. This goes on until the computer is turned off at which point the DHCP server keeps the IP marked as used until the lease is up and if it does not receive a request from the “lessee” machine, returns the IP address back to the pool as unused. DHCP can be used to assign just the IP, or everything up to and including IP, subnet mask, DNS servers, wins servers, gateways, additional domain name searches, ETC.

Try all this, and let me know what happens. I apologize if it is long and confusing. Write me with any questions and good luck!
Mike

P.S. Everything above is true for both machines. I.E. you should assign the IP for the win2k machine to 192.168.1.2 (in the above recommendations) and the IP for the win98 machine to 192.168.1.3. Everything else applies the same bewteen win98 and win2k, with the exception that you have to click different things to assign the IP information to the 98 machine as opposed to the 2k machine.